Bob Brigham
May 14, 2022
Screengrab.
The existence of a racist manifesto reportedly posted online by an 18-year-old white male before killed ten people in a mass shooting rampage in a Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York shows the limits of a "lone wolf" theory explaining how people are radicalized, a CNN homeland security analyst explained on Saturday.
Juliette Kayyem was interviewed about a 106-page manifesto pushing the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory that was reportedly written by the suspect whose rampage is being investigated as a hate crime.
CNN's Pamela Brown inteviewed Kayyem after the network's Brian Stelter reported the online video company Twitch confirmed the suspect live-streamed the shooting.
"There's two issues going on. So you can say that someone acted alone and that's what we tend to think of as lone wolf, that it's not five people or ten people or orchestrated attack. But the idea of a lone wolf, I think, I've been saying for a couple of years should be put to rest, because in every single up with of these cases, you're seeing an apparatus that essentially supported their hate," she explained.
"Now that might not have been an apparatus that told them to do this on that date, but these are people who are getting radicalized by an ecosystem of hate. this is what the FBI has been documenting for over a decade, it's what we mean in government when we violent extremism," she explained. "Lone wolf makes sound like they woke up one day and just decided to kill a bunch of Black people. That just doesn't happen."
"The reason why the manifesto is relevant is it will show where did that apparatus and the hate come from," she explained. "Lone wolf excuses an apparatus of hate that exists in this country and is the number one terror threat in this country right now."
That apparatus was in full display in 2021 when Fox News personality Tucker Carlson pushed the same "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory. When the Anti-Defamation League called on the network to fire the host, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) called the ADL "a racist organization" and claimed Carlson "is CORRECT about Replacement Theory as he explains what is happening to America."
Watch:
Lone Wolf www.youtube.com
Buffalo shooting came 8 months after NY newspaper warned of congresswoman's racist conspiracy theory
Bob Brigham
May 14, 2022
Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) smiles after House Republicans voted for her as their conference chairperson at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on May 14, 2021
Bob Brigham
May 14, 2022
Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) smiles after House Republicans voted for her as their conference chairperson at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on May 14, 2021
.( Mandel Ngan/AFP)
Saturday's mass shooting in New York occurred less than eight months after a local newspaper scolded a Republican congresswoman for pushing the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory.
"A white 18-year-old wearing military gear and live-streaming with a helmet camera opened fire with a rifle at a supermarket in Buffalo, killing 10 people and wounding three others Saturday in what authorities described as 'racially motived violent extremism.' The gunman wore body armor and military-style clothing during the attack on mostly Black shoppers and workers at Tops Friendly Market," the Times Union reported Saturday.
The suspect was identified by the newspaper as Payton Gendron, of Conklin, New York.
Prior to the shooting, the white 18-year-old reportedly posted a 106-page manifesto citing the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory as motivation.
In September of 2021, the newspaper's editorial board wrote about the conspiracy theory.
"Back in 2017, white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Va., carrying torches and chanting, 'You will not replace us' and 'Jews will not replace us.' Decent Americans recoiled at the undeniable echo of Nazi Germany," began the editorial, which was illustrated with a photo of the notorious Charlottesville tiki torch march.
"That rhetoric has been resonating ever since in the right wing, repackaged lately in what’s known as 'replacement theory,' espoused by conservative media figures like Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. And it has seeped into the mainstream political discourse in the Capital Region, where Rep. Elise Stefanik has adapted this despicable tactic for campaign ads," the editorial board wrote.
Stefanik, the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, is the third-ranking Republican in Congress.
"Ms. Stefanik isn’t so brazen as to use the slogans themselves; rather, she couches the hate in alarmist anti-immigrant rhetoric that’s become standard fare for the party of Donald Trump. And she doesn’t quite attack immigrants directly; instead, she alleges that Democrats are looking to grant citizenship to undocumented immigrants in order to gain a permanent liberal majority, or, as she calls it, a 'permanent election insurrection.' Quite a choice of words, of course, considering that the country is still suffering the aftershocks of the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington by supporters of Mr. Trump who tried to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election," the newspaper wrote.
The editorial board wrote that Stefanik knew what she was doing was wrong.
"The Harvard-educated Ms. Stefanik surely knows the sordid history and context of this. The idea of stoking racial, ethnic, and religious tribalism among voters dates back to this country’s earliest days. At various times, politicians have warned that Catholics, Jews, or Muslims were out to change the “culture,” or that Irish, Italian, Asian or eastern European immigrants would take the jobs — to 'replace' white, Protestant Americans," the editorial board explained. "If there’s anything that needs replacing in this country — and in the Republican party — it’s the hateful rhetoric that Ms. Stefanik and far too many of her colleagues so shamelessly spew."
Stefanik did not mention racism in her statement on the shooting, but did mention National Police Week.
Stefanik is not the only Republican member of Congress with history on the issue.
Also in September of 2021, after the Anti-Defamation League called on the network to fire Tucker Carlson for pushing the racist conspiracy theory, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) declared the ADL "a racist organization" and claimed Carlson "is CORRECT about Replacement Theory as he explains what is happening to America."
Saturday's mass shooting in New York occurred less than eight months after a local newspaper scolded a Republican congresswoman for pushing the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory.
"A white 18-year-old wearing military gear and live-streaming with a helmet camera opened fire with a rifle at a supermarket in Buffalo, killing 10 people and wounding three others Saturday in what authorities described as 'racially motived violent extremism.' The gunman wore body armor and military-style clothing during the attack on mostly Black shoppers and workers at Tops Friendly Market," the Times Union reported Saturday.
The suspect was identified by the newspaper as Payton Gendron, of Conklin, New York.
Prior to the shooting, the white 18-year-old reportedly posted a 106-page manifesto citing the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory as motivation.
In September of 2021, the newspaper's editorial board wrote about the conspiracy theory.
"Back in 2017, white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Va., carrying torches and chanting, 'You will not replace us' and 'Jews will not replace us.' Decent Americans recoiled at the undeniable echo of Nazi Germany," began the editorial, which was illustrated with a photo of the notorious Charlottesville tiki torch march.
"That rhetoric has been resonating ever since in the right wing, repackaged lately in what’s known as 'replacement theory,' espoused by conservative media figures like Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. And it has seeped into the mainstream political discourse in the Capital Region, where Rep. Elise Stefanik has adapted this despicable tactic for campaign ads," the editorial board wrote.
Stefanik, the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, is the third-ranking Republican in Congress.
"Ms. Stefanik isn’t so brazen as to use the slogans themselves; rather, she couches the hate in alarmist anti-immigrant rhetoric that’s become standard fare for the party of Donald Trump. And she doesn’t quite attack immigrants directly; instead, she alleges that Democrats are looking to grant citizenship to undocumented immigrants in order to gain a permanent liberal majority, or, as she calls it, a 'permanent election insurrection.' Quite a choice of words, of course, considering that the country is still suffering the aftershocks of the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington by supporters of Mr. Trump who tried to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election," the newspaper wrote.
The editorial board wrote that Stefanik knew what she was doing was wrong.
"The Harvard-educated Ms. Stefanik surely knows the sordid history and context of this. The idea of stoking racial, ethnic, and religious tribalism among voters dates back to this country’s earliest days. At various times, politicians have warned that Catholics, Jews, or Muslims were out to change the “culture,” or that Irish, Italian, Asian or eastern European immigrants would take the jobs — to 'replace' white, Protestant Americans," the editorial board explained. "If there’s anything that needs replacing in this country — and in the Republican party — it’s the hateful rhetoric that Ms. Stefanik and far too many of her colleagues so shamelessly spew."
Stefanik did not mention racism in her statement on the shooting, but did mention National Police Week.
Stefanik is not the only Republican member of Congress with history on the issue.
Also in September of 2021, after the Anti-Defamation League called on the network to fire Tucker Carlson for pushing the racist conspiracy theory, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) declared the ADL "a racist organization" and claimed Carlson "is CORRECT about Replacement Theory as he explains what is happening to America."
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